Held In Your Arms
by exiled mind
Summary: Bones has a bad day and Jim is there to look after him.


Written from the following anonymous prompt in the Buckleup_meme community over on LJ: _There can never be enough cuddle fics, y/y? How about Bones has a shit-tastic day (I'm thinking superficially shitty, not five-year-old-died-on-him shitty) and Jim give him comfort hugs that lead to epic cuddling._

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**Held In Your Arms**

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Leonard sighed at the sight of his bed. It was both extraordinarily welcome and frustratingly tempting. Welcome because after the day he'd had he wanted nothing more than to crawl beneath his covers and stay there for a week and frustrating because he knew that there was no way he'd have time to indulge in such a fantasy.

He submitted to the siren's call and allowed himself to collapse face-first onto the bed with a groan, recognizing all the while the danger of such a maneuver when he knew he had a four-hour lab that started in less than twenty-five minutes and at least fifteen pages of review work to prepare for it. Shit.

″You okay, Bones?″ Leonard reluctantly opened his eyes and blinked over at Jim sitting cross-legged on the room's other bed, a PADD in his lap and a plate of apple slices at his side. Huh. He hadn't even seen Jim when he'd shuffled into the room, apparently too dazed to bother taking in his surroundings.

Leonard groaned and buried his face in his pillow. ″Bad day.″ He had no idea if his words were comprehensible past the pillow, but he didn't really care that much either. Jim was a smart kid, he'd figure it out. And then he'd probably offer a solution involving some truly awful line like last week's 'How about some sexual healing, Doc?'

Although Leonard had certainly been enjoying the turn their friendship had taken since that first meeting in the shuttle, today he simply wasn't in the mood.

But Jim surprised him taking him somewhat seriously. ″Bad like a shuttle crash involving nuns and preschoolers bad? Or pecked to death by ducks bad?″

Leonard couldn't resist the short bark of laughter that escaped him at that and turned his head to the side once again. ″Ducks, Jim. Fortunately just the ducks.″

Jim made a sympathetic sound and set his PADD aside. ″Tell me about it.″

″Nah, you don't really want to hear the not-so-gory details.″ Leonard paused for a moment, a thought striking him. ″Hey, aren't you supposed to be in class now?″

″Supposed to be, yeah, but some idiot didn't double-check their equations or something and blew up part of the science complex. No injuries or anything, fortunately, but it made for a very embarrassed grad student, a seriously pissed fire marshal, and a number of professors who've canceled their classes and labs due to the damage. I even heard something about a gas leak. You should've gotten a message on your PADD about it, weren't you supposed to have a lab today in that complex?″

″PADD's broken. I have some kid from engineering taking a look at it to see if he can salvage my work. I'll have to forward my messages to a backup for now.″ Bones sighed. At least he no longer had to pry himself out of bed.

″That sucks. Part of the bad day, I take it?″

″Yup. Along with several of my projects and research findings, there's also the grades for the class I assist with - and I do _not_ want to have to reread that drivel to grade them all over again - and several expensive journal articles I downloaded. None of which I'd had the chance to back up yet.″

″Shit.″

″Yeah.″ Leonard jumped as he felt a tug on his left boot. ″Wha?″

″Relax, Bones, since you don't have class anymore you should actually get comfortable. I'm taking your shoes off.″ Jim relieved him of first one, then the other boot, and dropped them each with a thump by the bed. With Leonard's luck he'd likely trip over them later on but he was too tired to really complain about it right now.

″Thanks, Jim.″

″Welcome, Bones. Now tell me the rest. It's good to get it out there. Release your worries to the cosmos and all that shit.″ Jim knelt on the bed near Leonard, an impressive feat given the narrowness of the space, and his warmth crossed the short gap between their bodies.

It took Leonard a moment to shift his focus away from Jim's body. ″Where did you hear that load of dung?″

″Talk show. I was bored, I'm not used to having this block of time off. Now talk.″

Leonard snorted but settled in with a groan as Jim's hands began to press against his shoulders, massaging and soothing. ″Well, in addition to the broken PADD, the professor for my morning lecture threw a pop exam at us and-″

Jim's hands froze for a moment against Leonard's lower back. ″A pop _exam?_″

″Yup.″

″That's just an asshole thing to do.″

″You're tellin' me. That was followed by getting vomited on during clinic by a pair of seven month-old twins with a GI bug and having to wear replacement scrubs two sizes too-large while my clothes washed. Followed by having to explain to the professors of my next two seminars about my broken PADD and why my assignments were going to be late, and then endure the lectures about responsibility and the value of backing up my data. They will both take the situation 'under consideration' when they grade my work.″

Exhausted by the rush of confessions, Leonard fell silent.

″What else?″

″What do you mean, 'what else'? Isn't that enough?″ Leonard held his breath, but knew that Jim wasn't the 'leave it alone' type. He was more the 'poke it 'til it explodes' sort of guy.

″That more than enough to make for a crappy day, but I know that isn't all. What've you left out?″ Jim's clever fingers worked their magic against a knot in Leonard's neck, and Leonard supposed that was reason enough for him to abandon all attempts at keeping any part of his life private from this man.

″Jocelyn called.″ Though Jim's movements on his neck didn't stop, Leonard knew he'd surprised him. To his credit, Jim didn't push further, just waited until Leonard spoke again. ″She's getting married again.″

″That sucks.″

Leonard grunted. ″Not as much as I thought it would, actually. I've seen it coming, at least. The shitty part is that since her gran is doing poorly, Jocelyn wants to marry as soon as their family preacher is available, which happens to be the same week we'd agreed that I was supposed to get Joanna for a week. She asked if I'd be willing to switch.″

Jim's movements slowed for a moment as he contemplated what Leonard had just shared. After a silent moment, Leonard felt Jim sling a leg across his body and felt the other man's weight settle across his thighs. Jim renewed his massage of Leonard's back muscles, tightened anew by his revelations.

″So what are you gonna do?″

″I'm gonna change plans.″

″That means you won't get to see her until summer since our break is only a week long.″

Leonard released a breath with a shudder. ″I know that, Jim, but she's telling the truth about her gran, and she did ask rather than just go ahead and do whatever she wants. The situation sucks, but in this case it isn't all Jocelyn's fault, and I don't want to make things worse between us. It'll just impact Joanna even more.″ Leonard didn't bother to restrain the sigh that escaped him. ″I'm gonna try and get away for a weekend or two this term and then Jocelyn agreed to a couple of weeks during the summer.″

After a long moment, Jim curled himself down over Leonard's stretched out form, knees tight to Leonard's thighs, hips pressed down onto Leonard's ass, and chest to Leonard's back. Jim balanced himself just right so that his weight, rather than stealing Leonard's breath, bore down on him just right, spreading his warmth into Leonard's skin and pressing down just enough to offer comfort without ache. ″You're a good man, Bones.″

″Doesn't always feel like it.″

″Trust me, then. I know.″ Jim spread his arms out to cover Leonard's, matching him angle for angle and spreading his heat further, enveloping him. Then Jim rested his head against the space between Leonard's shoulders and just lay there, his only movement the press of his chest as he breathed.

Leonard could do little more than allow Jim's weight, his body, to comfort him and encourage him to release his tension and sink further into the mattress. When he was finally relaxed and just on the edge of sleep, Leonard felt Jim lift his head and press a lingering kiss to the skin just above Leonard's collar.

Leonard slipped into dreams just as Jim laid his head back down and squeezed him closer.


End file.
